Globally, dispute and litigation trends surrounding AI are evolving rapidly as the technology becomes more pervasive across industries. In 2025, we will continue to see courts grappling with the novel challenges AI presents, from defining liability for AI-driven decisions to addressing algorithmic bias that disproportionately affects protected classes.

National legislation applicable to the key areas we have outlined below has not been universally drafted to account for the challenges posed by AI and this factor, coupled with the rapid pace of technological advancement, ensures that AI-related disputes will remain a dynamic and contentious area of law. However, we have seen some dispute resolution bodies now offering bespoke rules for AI or other technology-related disputes to ensure that they are resolved as efficiently as possible with appropriate legal and technical expertise. 2024 saw key legislative initiatives, such as the EU AI Liability Directive. Businesses and policymakers alike will continue to be under growing pressure to anticipate and address these legal risks, emphasizing the need for robust governance, compliance frameworks and proactive risk management in the AI landscape.

We anticipate the following will remain a focus for disputes relating to AI in 2025:

Data and data privacy

A prominent area of concern is data privacy, where lawsuits are increasingly focusing on the unauthorized use of personal data to train AI models.

There are also growing concerns that the data utilized by AI systems is affected by unconscious bias in its processing or gathering. The litigation, regulatory and reputational risk may be particularly acute where the AI (whether or not with human oversight) is used to make decisions or recommendations impacting consumers. Employers should exercise particular caution in using AI to make decisions regarding their employees – various jurisdictions have seen litigation regarding discriminatory outcomes resulting from the use of AI in that context.

Intellectual property (IP)

Various jurisdictions have seen a rise in IP disputes as generative AI systems and their use of data challenge traditional notions of authorship and ownership under copyright law. Lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts over AI-generated content that allegedly incorporates copyrighted materials without proper licensing. The use of AI in this way is increasingly raising questions as to whether an AI model developer, trainer or user can be held liable where the AI makes use of IP-protected works in generating content. High-profile disputes, such as those involving news organizations and artists, are testing the limits of fair use and copyright infringement. This legal gray area is prompting calls for clearer legislative and judicial guidelines, at least in some jurisdictions. In Europe, many scholars and judges hold the opinion that the existing legal framework is sufficient to address copyright-related questions concerning AI, particularly regarding training, infringement, and rights to the output. These topics have already attracted the attention of European law enforcement agencies.

Consumer protection

Consumer protection lawsuits are an emerging battleground. Claims often involve allegations of deceptive marketing of AI products or services, such as exaggerations about capabilities or failure to disclose risks. A false allegation that a company is using AI to improve its services can constitute a misleading commercial practice, for which the company making the false claim may be held liable. Litigation around autonomous vehicles exemplifies these issues, with lawsuits targeting both the safety and transparency of AI systems in life-critical applications. Additionally, the US's Federal Trade Commission (FTC), for example, has warned companies against deploying AI tools that mislead consumers, further amplifying the potential for regulatory action. Initial decisions in Europe suggest that the user of an AI product may be primarily liable to their contractual partners, even if they did not develop the AI product themselves. As AI systems become embedded in more consumer-facing products, litigation related to product liability and algorithmic discrimination is expected to increase.

Cybersecurity

AI has significant potential to be used more widely to protect against the global threat of cyberattacks, by, for example, enhancing phishing protection and detecting insider threats. Equally, however, it also represents a threat, with new technology enabling new – and even more difficult to detect – threat vectors.

Standards of care owed by companies to their customers, suppliers and third parties are all likely to come under close scrutiny in this context as victims of fraud look to recover against identifiable and creditworthy parties who have unwittingly become involved on the peripheries of scams rather than fraudsters themselves, who may be difficult or impossible to trace and against whom enforcement may be impracticable.

Download the full global AI trends report or navigate to our key areas listed below. Visit Dentons' AI: Global Solutions Hub for the latest legal insights, webinar recordings and regulatory overviews from around the world.

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• Our overview for 2025
• AI regulation, governance and ethics  
• Data privacy and cybersecurity
• AI projects and procurement
• Employment and talent management
• IP protection and enforcement 
• M&A and investments
• Competition and antitrust